I’ve been coming out in spots a lot recently. I don’t know if its because of my diet or/and the face cream I use just isn’t working anymore. I can’t use water with a face wash on my face to wash it because it just goes really dry, sore and red so I have to use a cleansing lotion. I don’t really like that fact that my face doesn’t feel properly clean but it stops it going dry so I have to make it one or the other. I rarely get spots though so I’m not happy. One of my friends at school battled with really bad acne all the way through high school.  She used to get bullied quite a lot about it. I added her on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and her skin has cleared up and she looks great. I know she tried loads of skin creams but nothing seemed to work. I’ve heard Proactiv acne cream is good. I’m hoping its my diet to be honest which for the past few days I have been really working on changing. I think over all I need to start taking more care of myself. I rarely make the effort to look nice in the mornings anymore as there are loads of other things I have to be getting on with but I miss looking pretty! I don’t want to be embarrasing Meghan anymore either, her having to go out with me looking the way I do! I think I need to make that effort. Its only an extra ten minutes in the morning and I’ll feel better all day.

We’ll start tomorrow though. I have LOADS of cleaning to do today so its not really a good day to start on.

Meghan is a bit of a fussy eater. The only things that is guaranteed that she will eat for dinner are pasta and pizza. Even then its a bit of a hit and miss. She’s getting to the point where she’s selectively eating even if I make something I know she’ll eat. She’d rather just skip dinner and eat her dessert, which obviously most kids do. I’ve been struggling for about six months trying to find meals that she will eat at least half of and I think I’m (sort of) finally getting there.

I’ve been searching for simple, quick recipes online for a while but never really found anything I liked. Everything I did make just turned out terrible or just basically tasted like crap. My favourite website for recipes (both sweet and savoury) is The Crepes of Wrath. I made two of the chicken dishes this week and Meghan liked one out of the two which is definitely a start. I plan on making another couple from there in the next month or so and I’ll definitely have the other two on our bi-weekly meal plan from now on. I really want to try her with pork but she still doesn’t have many teeth (she has four coming in at once at the moment) so she wouldn’t really be able to eat it. The fact that she can’t eat fish cuts out a lot of options for me. Me and Alex love fish and would eat it two/three times a week but apart from tinned tuna, we don’t have any fish in the house anymore.

One thing she is not fussy on is eating fruits. Vegetables are another matter but she likes her fruit – banana’s, strawberries and blueberries are her favourites. She could sit and eat blueberries for hours if I let her which I don’t because they’re too expensive, haha.

Any ideas anyone? Anything that she actually might eat for once?

We’re not really a sports mad family. Well, we’re not a sports mad family at all. We’ve not been watching the Olympics and we’re not your typical British family as we hate football. The only sport I watch is NBA but I rarely get to watch that now that I don’t have the sports channels. I really miss watching basketball but its not worth an extra £14 a month just for one game a week. Do you know that I thought Oscar de la Renta was a boxer or something? That’s kind of embarrasing and it shows that I know NOTHING of fashion either. I really should keep up with these things.

Anyway, we have been going swimming now for the past two weeks and we’re all really enjoying it. Obviously for Meghan its just a bit of fun but I’m really enjoying getting back into the swimming. I used to swim every week as a child and when I got to about ten/eleven years old, I was going to the leisure centre on my own just to swim laps. When we went yesterday, I couldn’t do any swimming as there were a load of lads at the deep end, diving in and they would have just been in the way. I guess thats what you get for going on a Saturday afternoon. Last Sunday wasn’t too bad as there were a old of older people swimming in the main pool as well as the kids. Alex and I are thinking of going in the evening on our own when its adult swim so we can do some proper swimming without the kids. I need to build my stamina back up again and perfect my stroke again.

I always said if I had kids they would do some kid of sport or dance. I think as soon as Meghan is old enough, I’m going to send her to ballet lessons and then onto tap. I think we will definitely keep up with the swimming. My town has its own swimming team (which I nearly got into when I was younger) which would be good for Meghan if she was a strong enough swimmer. I just think keeping your kids active and with other children is something they really need throughout their childhood.

I’m rather good at getting good deals and things. I have to keep an eye on the prices as I’m going round the supermarket getting our weekly grocery shopping as we are on a budget but I think today, I really outdid myself. Today was a bit of a “get everything we need and lots of it” day at Tesco’s today. So thats what I did. I bought in bulk and tried to get the cheapest of things. I had some money off vouchers from collecting Clubcard points but I didn’t really know how much I had altogether. At the checkout my bill came to quite a lot, but not as much as I thought. I took all the vouchers out of my purse and handed them in. Do you want to know how much I saved on my bill? £26.50, which if you must know, is awesome. I just wish I could save that every week because that would be even better. I could actually put some money in my savings account if I went on like that!

I also got a good bargain yesterday too. Amy and I have been looking at getting new computers for about a month now and I found a great deal at PC World. We went last week and they had none left. Needless to say, we both came home really disappointed. Two days ago, a leaflet came in the post and I had a flick through it to see if they had any decent computers. They had exactly the same computer for more than £100 less than at PC World. We were there pretty early yesterday morning to try and get one each and they had two left. Talk about good luck! I’m glad we didn’t buy the first one we saw because if I’d have seen the cheaper one for less afterwards, I would have been very angry!

I’ve been looking online at holidays over the past couple of days. Last year we went to Wales for the weekend and although we really enjoyed it, Wales isn’t that exciting (no seriously, it isn’t). Alex has never been abroad before. I haven’t been that many times but I have been to Paris, Majorca and New York. Emelye goes abroad nearly every year with her mum and her mum’s boyfriend. Alex is just fed up of being in this country with its terrible weather and predictability and in a way I am too. My only problem is I absolutely HATE flying. I did a fear of flying course back when I was about 17 but it still doesn’t really change anything. I am prepared to get on a plane but I’m not looking forward to it. Especially after hearing about the Spanair crash and especially with it being the same airline that we flew with to Majorca.

At first we were looking at Florida. Both Alex and myself really want to go to America but after looking at the prices and realising that it would probably be best if we left it until we can drive, we started looking at somewhere else. I would like to go to Tenerife. Like I said before, I went to Majorca and it wasn’t very exciting. I’ve seen a hotel in Tenerife that I absolutely love but its very expensive. Almost as expensive as Florida but the difference is that its an all inclusive hotel so we wouldn’t have to buy any food or drinks for the whole week. I’m thinking that maybe we will just go back to Wales for a week next year and save to go abroad the year after. I’m determined the go now and I don’t want to let Alex down. He’s really excited about it and I’ve been getting excited about getting out of this damn country.

Whether we stay in the UK or go abroad, we really need some new luggage. We have one suitcase between us all from when I stayed in hospital to have Meghan. I think before we go away next year, I’ll be a whole set of cases for all of us (I found some by Johnston and Murphy but its a bit too executive). Somewhere like John Lewis do nice sets. I’ll have to take a look next time I go to the Trafford Centre.

We had a lovely day out yesterday. We rarely do anything at the weekend other than going to the library so Alex decided that he actually wanted to do something this week. We wanted to go to the Blue Planet Aquarium but that didn’t work out. We decided that we would do something closer to home. Something that we wouldn’t need one of our mum’s to take us to. We’re sick of doing stuff with the kids that we have to ask for someone to drive us there. We ended up going swimming, then to Pizza Hut and then off to a place called The Jungle. It really was such a nice day.

Meghan LOVED swimming. Last time me and Amy took her, she wasn’t so sure about it but yesterday she really got the hang of it. I managed to get her to kick her feet a bit while I pulled her around by her arms. She even kept her arm bands on with no fuss. I managed to get a couple of lengths of the pool done too. I’m so not as fit as I used to be. I can’t believe I could only do two lengths before I had to stop because I was out of breath. I used to be able to do 20 no problem.

After swimming, we walked up to Pizza Hut which was really nice. I love Pizza Hut and I just don’t go there enough. Me and Alex shared a large pizza with the stuffed crust (YUM!) and cheese garlic bread and the kids had their own pizza’s. We brought the leftovers home – thats what I love most about Pizza Hut. There’s no waste! There shouldn’t be with the price of it!

The last place before we headed home was The Jungle. I personally hate places like this. Masses of kids running round. Parents who go there to just get an hour away from the kids. The noise… but I wanted to take Meghan and Emelye said she’d been there before and she loved it so off we went. It was as bad as I thought but I just sat down while Alex played with Meghan and Emelye went off on her own. We didn’t stay much longer than an hour and although they had lots of fun. We won’t be going there again!

It was a long day – left home just after 10AM and got home for 4PM, we walked for at least two hours but it was the best day we’ve had in a long time. We’ve decided that we’re going to go swimming every weekend from now on and I’m looking forward to next time.

I’ve never been good at this ‘house person’ title. If it was an official paid job then I’d probably have gotten the sack months ago. Saying that, if it was a paid job I’d probably try a bit harder. I’ve been out of work since February 2006 and at home full time since July 2006 when I finished college. I think I’m finally figuring out what being a house person is all about. I’m not one of those people who have the dinner on the table ready for Alex to eat when he walks in the door. I’m more likely to be running around like a headless chicken trying to get it all ready while cleaning all the crap that’s accumulated on the table throughout the day so we can actually use it. Either than or he walks in and I’m online telling him he’s making dinner tonight – in other words, we’re ordering in because I cannot be bothered. I’m also rubbish at making his lunches for work. We have three/four lunches on a cycle and he’s probably getting as bored with eating it as I am making it. I picked up a lunch idea’s book today at the library so hopefully that will get better soon. Dinner’s are rather boring too for that matter. I have no imagination when it comes to food and I’m not that great of a cook either so everything new that I do try turns out terrible. Baking I’m fine with but cooking is a different matter.

On the cleaning side, well I go through fazes. One day I go on a mad one and clean and clean and clean and then the next day (or next few days) things go a bit down hill. One thing I am good at is washes the dishes. Do you know that the other day I washed dishes three times? Thats including wiping all the surfaces down too. I hate having dirty dishes in the sink, especially before I go to bed. I’d rather get it all done so it looks nice and clean when I come down in the morning. The one thing I don’t want to be doing first thing in the morning is washing dishes so I can have a cup of tea and some toast. Since viewing that house that we wanted to rent, I’ve got better at cleaning. I’ve become a little house proud – not too much but I actually care what people think when they come round. One thing I’m pleased about is that I don’t have a litter box anymore. One reason is because I was sick of Daxter eating… yeah but another is because, Meghan gets into everything. She’s constantly in the rubbish bin and in cupboard causing havoc so I’d hate to keep having to move her away from the litter box too.

I think I need to make a rota for the week so I know what chores to do on which day. I work better on a schedule so I might actually do better that way. Oh! I’ve figured out something that I’m good at! The grocery shopping. The day before I go (I usually do it online but I do actually go shopping sometimes), I make a list of the meals for the week and the day that we’ll be having them on and then from there I make a list of the food we need. I put household goods – toilet roll, foil, cleaning sprays – in a seperate list so I don’t mix them up and I never come home with something random or miss anything out. Apart from those weeks when we don’t have enough cash to do a full shop, those weeks are full of unorganisation and choas. Seriously.

I’ll admit it; we watch way too much TV in our house. The TV is on from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed. Much like the computer. We have Sky Digital downstairs and a Freeview box upstairs (I wish we had the Slingbox in the UK, we could have Sky upstairs too then). Growing up, I was watching TV from a very young age and I can safely say it didn’t make me into an idiot. When people come across with “TV makes your kids stupid” then I totally have to disagree. Take Alex’s family – Alex never watched TV at all, he was always out playing with his mates and he never did any homework, didn’t care about school and basically came out with miniumum qualifications. His older brother on the other hand, watched TV all day, did well in school, went to college, went to university and has recently graduated as an accountant. I don’t like Meghan watching TV all day but you learn so much from it. We mainly have Cbeebies on and its a lot of story telling and learning about animals and things and its taught her a lot. Programs like Dora the Explorer and Yo Gabba Gabba on Nick Jr are great as she joins in and sings and dances.

I don’t let her sit on the couch all day eating and watching TV while I’m sitting at the computer all day. We do read stories and go out for walks and play with her toys and I do think she watches too much but, it never did me any harm.

For those of you who still grace my pathetic excuse for a blog – THANK YOU! – and also you should have noticed a few changes. Firstly I upgraded to WordPress 2.6 which is taking a lot of getting used to. I think I was quite behind over here on upgrading, I’m not sure where I was up to but I know I didn’t have 2.5. Also, I changed the theme to this one. With the new start I wanted the place to look different and that meant not going back to any of my old themes. The most important and major change is that this is not going to be my “lets try and blog and add paid blogs into it” blog anymore.  This place is now a blog about my life as a parent and a homemaker. I get lots of ideas for posts throughout the day as I do things around the house but that wouldn’t really fit over at Love Duckie. I have been trying to think of what to do with this place for the past few weeks and not coming up with anything but I think this idea is going to work. The paid posts are still going to be present but I promise they will be more relevant to my blog from now on, rather than just randomly thrown in there. I’d stopped the paid posts altogether but they really help and I’m not going to lie.

I have a few posts lined up for the next few days which I’m going to work on tonight. I’m looking forward to reviving this place again. I really miss it over here.

I went to see my Nana and Grandad last Wednesday. I haven’t seen them in such a long time. It might have been about March the last time I saw them. They’re always off on holidays and cruises so I never get chance to see them anymore. It was nice to see them for a while. Both of them haven’t been too well recently and after Alex’s mum’s boyfriend dying last month it sort of made me think about taking the time out to go and visit them. The fact that they won’t/don’t come round to mine doesn’t help either but I think from now on, I’m going to try and see them at least once a month. I don’t want anything to happen to either of them and I have to turn around and say, “I wish I had made more of an effort.”

In other news, we didn’t get the house. I’m quite disappointed but there’s not much I can do about it so I’m trying not to get too down about it. Alex and I have decided to save the extra money that would have gone on rent so that we can finally get our bedroom decorated. Its going to be the new year before we do anything as we need new furniture and flooring as well decorating the walls. I can’t wait to get it all done. Its such a mess at the moment.